OUR VIEW: Legislators keep state protected from UN

Just when we thought legislators might make it out of town without embarrassing the state too much more, they decided to pass a law that bars the United Nations from sending monitors to state elections.

Election officials in Afghanistan, Syria and Ukraine may regret that the United Nations will be able to focus its attention on them rather than the Volunteer State, and it's nice to know that Tennessee does not have any serious problems like a revenue deficit.

Oh, that's right, it does have a revenue deficit that the Legislature had to resolve to approve a balanced budget before it adjourns.

The General Assembly seems to operate in something of a dual universe.

In one universe, legislators try to address issues that really have some relevance to the state's residents. In the other universe, too many legislators are actors in the political theater of promoting extreme positions on issues generally irrelevant except for the fact they may expand voter turnout.

State residents who are contemplating their futures in regard to gainful employment, educational opportunities and health care undoubtedly are relieved to know that legislators spent time to guarantee that "In God We Trust" will emblazon some part of the state Capitol.

They may be less relieved that some legislators have decided to replicate the Old West with six-guns on every hip because Tennessee was not at a geographically advantageous location for saloon showdowns.

Some legislative acts simply are inexplicable in either universe.

Presumably, since the Republican Party dominates both houses of the legislature, the majority of lawmakers are pro-life, yet they have passed a law that means that pregnant women may face criminal penalties if their babies suffer medical harm because of their consumption of illegal drugs.

Care of the child should be of the utmost concern, but the possibility of criminal penalties could result in termination of the pregnancies, which the majority of state legislators cannot support.

District attorneys and law-enforcement officers may want some solution to dealing with the harm to infants because of drug abuse, but approval of such punitive action could have unintended consequences.

More thought should have gone into this solution as it should have gone into protecting the state from the United Nations and providing economic incentives for the holster-manufacturing industry.

More thought, however, may be too much to ask.

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OUR VIEW: Legislators keep state protected from UN

Just when we thought legislators might make it out of town without embarrassing the state too much more, they decided to pass a law that bars the United Nations from sending monitors to state